Investigating blood flow in the coronary arteries

The movement of blood in the coronary arteries is still not fully understood. Unlike
other organs, which receive a pulse of blood flow every time the heart contracts, the heart
muscle itself compresses its own blood supply during its contraction. ICCH has developed a
completely new method of analysing the complex interactions between pressure and
flow that occur within the coronary arteries during cardiac contraction and relaxation.

Dr Justin Davies is using this method to identify a series of energy waves responsible
for directing blood flow in the coronary arteries. These waves are detrimentally
reduced in the abnormal thickening of the heart muscle caused by high blood pressure.

More recently, Dr Davies has developed a new technique to assess the importance of
changes in the reservoir properties of the aorta in regulating blood pressure, and the
impact of ageing and disease.

‘This new reservoir technique has the potential to aid the
understanding of the mechanisms of hypertension, and may be useful in
assessing the modes of actions of different antihypertensive agents.’

Dr Justin Davies

Dr Nearchos Hadjiloizou, a British Heart Foundation Junior Research Fellow,
is investigating the effect of left ventricular function on coronary haemodynamics.
Normally, the blood supply to the heart comes from the left and right coronary
arteries. While these arteries originate from the same level of the aorta and experience
the same aortic pressure, their flow patterns are strikingly different. Dr Hadjiloizou
accounted for this difference by investigating wave generation in each of these arteries.

‘I am currently applying this technique to account for the unique flow
patterns seen in pathological states such as aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease.’